Cadillac Detailing and Bodywork - Interior and Exterior including Body and Wheels Discussion, Are Your White Walls Really White? in Item Specific Cadillac Discussion; I'm just throwing this out there because it has saved me many hours, headaches and money and hopefully it can ...

Are Your White Walls Really White?

I'm just throwing this out there because it has saved me many hours, headaches and money and hopefully it can help someone here.

I've got gansta white walls on my Harley and after trying everything under the sun the guys over at the Harley forums had some great advice.

When it comes to cleaning white walls I can't find ANYTHING that works better than Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Once you go bald you won't go back!!

The back tire on a Harley gets really dirty because not only does it catch all the road dust kicked up but it also gets minor belt dust from the drive belt. I found that if you keep rinsing the Magic Eraser out with water from a bowl or bucket the whiter the white walls get.
I've had many compliments on the hog white walls and once I showed some Caddy buddies this they are hooked.
They also make a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with extra cleaning agents in them, which is what I use.

Give it a try, they are cheap and there's not much elbow grease needed.

Re: Are Your White Walls Really White?

The SOS pads with the soap in them work really well too, or fine steel wool with laundry detergent, or paint thinner with a razor blade for those deep scuffs, the paint thinner and razor work the best, and its really fast, it takes about ten seconds to do one tire, and it comes out whiter than it was when the tires were new.

Re: Are Your White Walls Really White?

Originally Posted by K@ddiD@ddi

The SOS pads with the soap in them work really well too, or fine steel wool with laundry detergent, or paint thinner with a razor blade for those deep scuffs, the paint thinner and razor work the best, and its really fast, it takes about ten seconds to do one tire, and it comes out whiter than it was when the tires were new.

The only problem with sos pads is when your wife is looking for them,and you used them "on the $#@&^ car.

Re: Are Your White Walls Really White?

LOL yea thats true, i was only almost married once and my car cleaning habits were way more than my house cleaning, mainly because i used everything up cleaning my car....needless to say we are not together anymore, but atleast my car is clean!!!

Re: Are Your White Walls Really White?

this dude at a tire shop said to use carb cleaner. Was checking out some used whitewall tires (for the 78) and he showed me one and said that's a blackwall and he said no it's a whitewall and upon closer view, sure enough it was and that's when he mentioned the carb cleaner.
I've used the Mr. Clean erasers and they do work. You can also use sandpaper on a sanding block. Looks good too!

Re: Are Your White Walls Really White?

As someone who has had WW tires on all his cars since I got my DL in 1975 I have used BlecheWhite and SOS pads. They do a good job BUT there are problems with both products. I have read recently that BlecheWhite dries out the white rubber, causing it to develop tiny pores that hold dirt. SOS pads scuff the whitewall surface, making it rough and thus more likely to hold onto dirt. Examining my tires this seems to be true.

Now, on older cars with drum breaks and full wheel covers this isn't much of a problem. Drums don't make much dust and the wheel covers are generally solid and don't let the dust escape. The tires don't get as dirty and the whitewalls are easy to keep clean. On newer cars with open or spoked wheel designs and disc brakes the amount of break dust that ends up on the wheels and tires, especially the fronts, is tremendous. On my next set of tires I am definitely going to try Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or a similar non-abrasive cleaner. The smoother (and more pliant) the white rubber stays I feel the easier it will be to clean them. The dirt will come off easier. This would also apply to older cars, even if they don't have the disc brake dust problem.

Oddly enough it seems that good old BlecheWhite is probably best for black wall tires. It gets the crud and brown off the black rubber quite well and when you apply the tire shine you get a really nice sheen. With no white rubber to worry about BlecheWhite is great for BWs!